DCN RESPONDS TO TECHNICAL CONSULTATION ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT FINANCE SETTLEMENT

Responding to the Government’s technical consultation on the 2018/19 Local Government Finance Settlement, Cllr John Fuller Chairman of the District Councils’ Network, said:

“District councils have played a central role in enabling housing growth in this country, contributing to the highest building rates in a decade. In the last year alone, districts were responsible for enabling almost 50 per cent of housing completions in England.

“The New Homes Bonus (NHB) has provided districts with a positive and powerful incentive to build more houses and support growth in our localities. However, the proposed 0.4 per cent threshold for the NHB is not acceptable to district councils and any suggestion that this could increase in the future will not be supported by the DCN. This baseline creates a perverse incentive which penalises district councils for delivering more housing growth.

“District Councils approve 90 per cent of residential applications. The proposals to reduce the NHB for all authorities who see any successful appeals weakens the hand of authorities that aspire to get the highest quality of development that is acceptable to their communities.

“Councils should not tempted to settle for second best at the risk of being taken to appeal for inadequate applications.”